The Clinical Case Presentation: A tool for integrating the teaching of communication skills, clinical reasoning and reflective practice in undergraduate medical students

Using the clinical case presentation as the focus of English language support sessions for international undergraduate medical students, an innovative method of communication skills teaching facilitated the development of language, reasoning and reflection in students communicative practices. Working individually with six international students, case presentations were audio-recorded and transcribed and linguistic and rhetorical structures analysed to assess communicative strengths and weaknesses. The analysis and feedback was subsequently integrated into the design of a clinical case presentation workshop for Year 3 undergraduate students on clinical placement. Implications for future research and integration of language and communication skills support in contexts of clinical learning will be discussed.